It’s too late to find my speciality.
Question: 1. Does it weird to say that?
Question: 2. If not, the sentence means I can’t find my speciality because it’s too late (it might be I’m too old to find it), right?!
Question 3. But if what I’m trying to say is like this:
I’m 60 and now I found my speciality, and it’s kind of late. Because no one would hire me.
I can’t use this “too… to…” sentence structure, right?
How about “so… that…” or “not… until”? I didn’t find my speciality until this late.
Thank you!!!
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- Speciality is used when describing something that you do especially well to someone else, but it does not mean that you love doing that specialty. Passion means you love doing that thing, but it does not mean you are good at it. So it depends on what exactly you mean.
Since you are asking about a talent to make people laugh, I’d say speciality is actually more applicable here, so your original sentence of “it’s too late to find my speciality” is probably the most correct for what you want to say. Nice one, you’ve proven a native speaker wrong! 
- Although personally, I believe anyone can learn anything at any age, if I had to say it, I’d probably say
“I’m too old to find my speciality”, yes. You are right. Personally, it sounds a bit weird to me (I’d probably prefer to say “I’m too old to find what I’m good at” but that is just a more informal way of saying it).
Thank you so much for clarifying the difference.
I’d like to make sure this sentence again: I’m too old to find what I’m good at.
When you say this, does it mean you KNOW or you DON’T KNOW what you’re good at, and you’re too old?
I’m still confused by this sentence structure: too… to…
You’re too young to do it. ----> which means you can’t do it.
It’s too hot to drink it. -----> which means I can’t drink it
I’m too old to learn it. -----> which means I can’t learn it
I’m too old to find something —> which means I can’t find it, right?
You’re too young to do it. = You’re not old enough yet to be allowed to do it.
It’s too hot to drink. = It needs to cool down first before anyone should try to drink it.
I’m too old to learn it. = I feel as though I’m unable to learn it because I’m so old.
I’m too old to find a job. = I feel as though I’m no longer able to seek employment because of my (advanced) age.
They were too young to die. = They died at a much younger age than they should have.
Thanks again for all the examples.
There’s one more, please.
I lost my key to my apartment. Then I went to the locksmith to get a new one.
After several days, my co-workers found it on her desk and showed me.
Then can I say, it’s too late to find it???
Hmm… In terms of traditional hardware locks and keys, it’s never “too late” to find a missing key, as long as you still have the same door lock and nothing has been damaged. If you went to have a new key made for the same lock and later you found the old key, then you would just end up with an extra key, wouldn’t you?
On the other hand, if you went and got a new door lock, so that you now have a different key and your old key that your co-worker found doesn’t work anymore, then you might say, “Well, it’s too late to change the lock back” because you already went and had the lock changed and probably disposed of the old lock, right? Now you just have an old, worthless key that you might as well throw away.
brucenator, your last explanation totally makes sense. I guess I made a bad example to mislead you. Sorry.
I think I’ll just make other sentences to see if they make sense to you.
It’s too late to hand it in. — means you can’t hand it in because it’s too late, right?
It’s too late to decide. — means you can’t decide because it’s too late?
It’s too late to know that. —> I don’t know how to explain this one.
Sorry for keeping bothering you and not letting it go.
It’s like a pain in my neck.
haha. It’s not a problem, lilyyang, no need to apologize. I understand that some expressions can be confusing.
There are probably countless examples of sentences using the too… to… formula, including it’s too late to do this or it’s too late to do that.
Your examples are a bit too general, so I’ll give more specific examples:
If the school teacher says, “It’s too late to hand the homework in,” this means that it’s past the due date for the homework, so even if you turn the homework in now, you won’t get any credit for it. It will count as a zero.
“When you hit the rapids, it’s too late to decide that you don’t want to go whitewater rafting.” This means that once you have committed to going white water rafting and you’re on the river and getting ready to ride through the rapids, you can’t suddenly change your mind and say, “I don’t want to do this anymore.” Same thing goes for a roller coaster or sky-diving, etc. Once the car starts moving, it’s too late to decide that you don’t want to ride the roller coaster. Once you jump out of the airplane, it’s too late to decide that you don’t want to go sky-diving.
“It’s too late to know that I’ve let my impulsiveness be my guide.” This means that you have done something impulsively that you later regret doing, but you can’t go back and change the thing that you have already done. A good example of this would be “binge shopping,” also known as compulsive shopping or emotional shopping. This is when someone will go “shopping crazy” to soothe a feeling of emptiness or depression by buying a bunch of things they don’t really need because it makes them feel good, but later when they get home and realize how much money they’ve spent or charged on their credit card, they feel regret and feel empty or depressed all over again.
That’s impressive, brucenator.
How can you explain it so…so…so… perfectly?
I really enjoy reading your explanation, easy to understand, and learn how to express things happening in life at the same time. It helps me a lot.
I’ll digest or process it slowly. I mean the “too…to…” formula.
You know, sometimes, you didn’t realize what you had learned was wrong until you asked.
Thanks a million.